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Share this Story: Sarah McLachlan headed to Ottawa bearing a new album, new label and new scars

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Sarah McLachlan is joining the list of artists taking part in the 2014-15 season of NAC Presents.

The announcement that McLachlan will play Southam Hall on Nov. 14, was made Monday evening at 8 p.m. The full lineup will be revealed Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. ottawacitizen.com. Announced earlier was a performance by Gordon Lightfoot, Nov. 22.

The show in Ottawa is part of a major tour Grammy-award winning McLachlan has just announced that is in support of her eighth studio album, Shine On. It kicks off Oct. 18 in Victoria, B.C. and will visit 19 cities across the country. Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 9 and can be purchased at SarahMcLachlan.com and livenation.com.

The album is McLachlan’s first full-length record in four years. It was put together in Montreal and Vancouver with longtime collaborator/producer Pierre Marchand.

McLachlan, 46, has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. She is an eight-time Juno Award winner and a three-time Grammy Award winner.

McLachlan’s fifth album, Surfacing, had two Grammy award-winning tracks: Building a Mystery and Last Dance. She also founded the Lilith Fair tour showcasing female musicians which raised over $7 million for local and national charities over its 3 years and in 2002 founded her non-profit organization the Sarah McLachlan School of Music. The school provides free afterschool music education for at-risk and underserved kids who otherwise would have no access to music programming.

After many changes, including a divorce documented on 2010 album Laws of Illusion, the death of her father (in 2010) after a long battle with cancer and leaving her longtime label and management team at Nettwerk, the Vancouver-based artist told the Vancouver Sun she is ready to “shine on.”

Tell us about the past six years:

“I look at the arc of the last six years: All the male anchors — gone. I think I really had to set about redefining myself as to what the second half of my life is going to look like.”

Shine On out May 6 on Verve Records is a tribute to the power of hope, life and love and one that allowed McLachlan to reflect upon the many emotions that have rocked her life of late. It is much less metaphorical than previous efforts, one that speaks with McLachlan’s own voice more openly and with a closer lyrical connection to real life. Why did it take four years?

“I’ve never been prolific. I was hoping it was going to take three years. I even made the bold statement last year: ‘Album coming out in the fall!’ And it didn’t. Life gets busy, and for me as an artist I’ve never been able to force myself to sit down and say, ‘I’m going to write a song.’ It comes when it comes. I was lost and rudderless (after her father’s death, her mother died in 2001) n— that was a profound moment for me.

“For me the concept of Shine On is, ‘Are we going to be resigned, thinking this is as good as it gets? Or are we going to suck the marrow out every single day and get as much as we can out of it?’” McLachlan asked. “That’s how I feel. If I don’t feel that way every day, I work toward it. We only get one kick at the can.

“Being with my dad for the last days of his life — he never stopped living. He wasn’t waiting to die. He was holding on to every day and he was graceful and kind and full of gratitude for every day he had.”

Your divorce from husband Ashwin Sood in 2008 was difficult but what was the split with your manager Terry McBride and label Nettwerk in 2011 after 24 years of partnership like.

“It was incredibly hard. It took me three years (to get over). I’m very grateful for what Terry McBride did for my career. I just think at a certain point in time there has to be a change. I think perhaps both sides became complacent. It’s like a marriage. We had so many habits we had with each other that maybe weren’t that healthy. They’re great guys, and I have a huge respect for them. And that’s why it was so difficult.”

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